Valkoria Merchant Fleet
The Valkoria Merchant Fleet is the mobile trading arm of the Valkoria Consortium. Outside of the Federation's own merchant fleet, it is the largest aggrupation of starships under one institution. History The Merchant Fleet was first organized and established on 2320 by Toval Hunter. Though its primary mandate was to trade with other interstellar species, the Fleet and its crews hold sacred the tenets of the Federation in scientific exploration, diplomacy and the . Merchant Fleet Academy By 2350, a Merchant Fleet Academy open to all sentient beings was established in Bracchia Prime to serve as an institution for learning, specifically to train cadets to be future Merchant Fleet officers. Traditionally, when a person who wishes to join reaches the age of adult, they submit an application and undergo a series of tests to see if they'll get accepted. Once accepted, they train at one of the facilities for four years. A good number of instructors in the Merchant Fleet Academy had been Starfleet officers. The academic standards established was considered by many as nearly at par with that of Starfleet itself. Fleet Composition The Valkoria Merchant Fleet was largely made up of cargo freighters, cargo tankers and passenger transports. Because of the growing instability in the Alpha Quadrant, The Executive Board of the Consortium decided to equip their enormous commercial freight carriers with military grade shields, phasers and photon torpedoes, and communications arrays. Although the general headquarters of the Valkoria Merchant Fleet is Valkoria Station, it has designated bases of operations on the four other Valkoria Space Hubs owned by the Consortium and on various stations all over known space. They occupy and rent substantial operational space in these stations. The VM Fleet underwent a general overhaul in 2378, when one of its two dominant leaders, Maximus Hunter, took a more active role in the Valkoria Consortium. Contracting several retired or resigned Starfleet engineers and ship designers, Hunter headed a massive modernization program. This saw the sale of practically all of the VM Fleet's ships and the simultaneous construction of what Hunter had coined as the "new line" of interstellar cargo ships. Eight (8) types of cargo ships were designed to comprise this "new line": * The Super Cargo Carrier. Six (6) were built. * The Heavy Cargo Carrier. Twelve (12) were built. * The Medium Cargo Carrier. Twenty-two (22) were built. * The Light Cargo Carrier. Thirty-two (32) were built. * The Super Freighter. Forty-four (44) were built. * The Heavy Freighter. Fifty-six (56) were built. * The Medium Freighter. Sixty-four (66) were built. * The Light Freighter. Seventy-two (76) were built. Fleet distribution The whole Valkoria Merchant Fleet is composed of 314 merchant starships. Valkoria Station The Valkoria Station, headquarters of the VM Fleet, serves as home port to 86 merchant starships, namely: * Two Super Cargo Carriers * Four Super Cargo Carriers * Six Heavy Cargo Carriers * Eight Medium Cargo Carriers * Twelve Light Cargo Carriers * Sixteen Super Freighters * Eighteen Heavy Freighter * Twenty Medium Freighter Valkoria Space Hub Each of the four (4) Valkoria Space Hub serves as home port to 57 merchant starships, namely: * One Super Cargo Carrier * Two Super Cargo Carriers * Four Heavy Cargo Carriers * Six Medium Cargo Carriers * Eight Light Cargo Carriers * Ten Super Freighters * Twelve Heavy Freighter * Fourteen Medium Freighter Fleet personnel The officers and crew of the Valkoria Merchant Fleet are known to be as disciplined as their Starfleet counterparts. The Fleet uses the same ranks and designations like the officers and crew of Starfleet. Flag ranks The VM Fleet only accords four flag ranks to its most senior officers: * Admiral is the highest rank a merchant officer can attain in the VM Fleet. Only one person with this rank can actively command the Fleet. Toval Hunter, Maximus Hunter and Magnus Hunter all hold the rank of Admiral, but only Magnus can actively command the fleet. During the years when Maximus was active with the Consortium, he actively commanded the fleet. * Vice Admiral is the second highest rank a merchant officer can attain in the VM Fleet. Only two persons hold this rank: The Vice Admiral for Operations, and the Vice Admiral for Administration. * Rear Admiral is the third highest rank a merchant officer can attain in the VM Fleet. There are six persons holding this rank, each one in charge of a merchant task force with a Super cargo carrier as flagship. * Commodore is the rank accorded to the Commanding officer of the Super cargo carrier. It is the lowest flag rank in the VM Fleet. Category:Fleets